Op-Ed: Obama says there are days when ‘one term is enough’

Washington
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In an exclusive interview, President Barack Obama told TODAY's Ann Curry on Monday there are times when he thinks "one term is enough," a line certain to send a tingle down the spines of GOP presidential hopefuls who might see it as a sign of weakness.

Obama continues holding on to his change mantra, part of the hope and change feel-good which had many Americans actually believing there was something better than the G. W. Bush years. At a Capital Hill fundraiser last month, the president told a group of campaign donors: “Don’t let people tell you that we can’t bring about change. We have already brought about change.” AP reported.

There’s little news yet from those who have already donated money to the Obama re-election campaign, a campaign some thought could be the first political campaign in the country’s history to raise $1 billion dollars. It remains to be seen how future donors will respond to a president who appears to be running out of the strength necessary to endure another four years at what is, without question, a grueling job.

However, it would be expected one would have realized this before deciding to take on the job. “I’m sure there are days where I say that one term is enough,” Obama told TODAY’s Ann Curry this week. “What keeps me going is a belief that the work that we started in 2009 is not yet complete.”

The work is so far from complete it’s unlikely, were he re-elected, another four years would be of little help. A recent myriad of troubling economic numbers was compounded by the facts revealed in a new poll showing a majority of Americans look on Obama’s handling of the economy in a negative light.

In his weekly address last Saturday, Obama said an economic recovery is “going to take time,” and just as with his “one term is enough” comment, gives yet another impression of just not being so into being president anymore.

Talking with Curry, Obama noted his wife and two daughters are happy with any decision he makes and would easily adjust to a situation which found him out of the White House. “Michelle and the kids are wonderful in that if I said, ‘You know what guys, I want to do something different,’ they would be fine,” he said.

The president noted the amazing recovery Congresswoman Gabriell Giffords has gone through after being shot in the head this past January in Arizona.

“To see her now, walking and talking and laughing, yes, she’s still got some recovery to do, but what an incredible spirit she is,” he said, calling the recovery a “genuine miracle.”

Part of the unfinished business the president referred to was the issue of energy, a troubling aspect of the nation’s ongoing economic woes, dramatically underlined when one takes into account ongoing record profits being reported by all major oil companies. Although he has repeatedly promised the nation alternative, renewable and clean energy sources as part of our future, Obama told Curry: “We still don’t have the kind of energy policy that we need to move this country forward.”

On the sexting scandal issue involving Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, Obama bluntly said: “I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign.” Add one more voice to the growing chorus calling for Weiner’s resignation.

If three wars, at least one of them unauthorized, were not enough for Obama to deal with, staring him in the face each morning when he awakens is a massive $14.3 trillion national debt, thanks in part to those wars. Obama told Curry he is “confident” there is a plan which will get the debt under control but at the same time will help get people off the unemployment lines.

Although the Los Angeles Times refers to the TODAY interview as “TV talk,” the interview follows the same vein as one he had last year with ABC's Diane Sawyer, when he told her “I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president.”

For many, the mediocrity of his first term is exactly why his approval ratings continue falling.

This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com